


Ragtag Band

by mothi



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Imprisonment, Original Character Death(s), also Reveth is the Best and i love her, also i got him honking in there ..a success, captain 'honk' ithano and his first mate quiggold 'potato' yoga pants, descriptions of injuries, i love them so much ......i love them so much, i wrote Ithano as using actual sign language as well as Quigg just knowing what he wants, there isn't much violence but there is some description of blood and injuries so be careful !!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 11:07:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6515989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothi/pseuds/mothi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every captain needs a crew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ragtag Band

**Author's Note:**

> i love Ithano and Quiggold so much i love the space dads.....i might make this into a multi-chapter series of them finding all the rest of the crew LET ME KNOW what u think

Sallow gave a guttural laugh through airways choked with tar. “You’re looking in the wrong place, _Captain_. You won’t find what you’re looking for in this _kai’t’sum_.”

Ithano leaned back in his chair. The dull, fatty light glinting off his helmet gave him an almost ethereal look, the expressionless mask silhouetted against the yellowing wall.

“Our source was reliable,” Quiggold said, shooting a glance at the Captain. “We do have other methods of making you talk, Sallow.”

Sallow’s cracked lips split to reveal brown teeth bared in a grin. “Threatening me now, are we, Gabdorin? That won’t get you nowhere in a place like this. You two stick out like a Stormtrooper on Tatooine, ‘specially with your _Captain_ ,” – he jerked a thumb at Ithano – “acting like he’s got lockjaw. What’s wrong with him, anyway? He dumb, or someth –”

His words broke off in a strangled squeal as Quiggold lunged across the table and seized him by the throat.

“Never,” Quiggold said quietly, tightening his fingers in the fleshy folds of skin, “insult my Captain again.”

Ithano had risen quickly, one hand on Quiggold’s arm. He watched as Quiggold released the Besalisk, who flopped back into his chair, coughing and massaging his throat.

“Almighty _space_ ,” Sallow rasped as Quiggold sank back down, wiping his hands distastefully on his trousers. “You’ve got yourself a loyal first mate, Corsair.”

Ithano nodded, his hand still on Quiggold’s arm. Sallow gave a final cough, thumped his chest once, and pulled himself upright, settling two sets of hands on the table in a business-like manner.

“I have the Twi’lek,” he began bluntly, “but she’s goin’ to cost you. I’m not giving her away for free. Speaking of which, who was your source? I don’t remember telling anyone where I was keeping her. I bet it was Gri’neb – that son of a Hutt always looked shifty. Anyway –” He cleared his throat, small eyes squinting at Ithano. “You want to buy her?”

Ithano tilted his head, hands folded serenely on the table. Sallow tipped his chair back onto two legs, examining the smoke-stained ceiling, and huffed a breath out through his nostrils.

“Three thousand credits,” he said abruptly, letting his chair fall back onto all four legs with a bang. Ithano gave a soft honk of displeasure, and Quiggold drew back slightly as though he had been burned, staring at Sallow in disbelief.

“ _Three thousand credits_?” he repeated incredulously, nostrils flaring. “We could buy the _planet_ for three thousand credits!”

“You want her, you have to pay the price,” Sallow declared loudly. “I ain’t givin’ her away for free, it’s a good deal for such a fine speci –”

“Two thousand,” Quiggold interrupted. “Two thousand credits for the Twi’lek.”

Sallow sucked on his bottom lip, eyes twitching slightly. “Two thousand, five hundred.”

Ithano pushed his chair back from the table and stood up with a loud scraping noise, flipping his cloak back over his shoulder.

“Fine, fine!” Sallow yelped, face twisting in alarm. “Two thousand credits. I’ll be wanting it all now, mind you, no half-and-halves or – or –” He quailed under the austere regard of Ithano, who had not yet sat down. Sallow gave a deep sigh, rubbing a hand across his forehead. “Fine. Half now, half when you’ve got the Twi’lek. That’s the best I can do.”

Ithano made a satisfied noise and sat down again, ignoring the still-muttering Besalisk and turning to Quiggold. He made a quick series of gestures with his gloved hands. _I will get the money. Keep an eye on him._ He jerked his head once in the direction of Sallow, then stood up again. _And I had just sat down_ , he signed despondently, before laying a hand briefly on Quiggold’s shoulder and striding out of the shop.

Sallow lifted his head as Ithano left, piggy eyes narrowed and hands clenched on the table. “What’d he say to you?”

Quiggold let his hand drift to his belt where his blaster was hanging. Sallow’s eyes followed the movement, and his lips curled downwards. “Fine. I don’t care what he said, as long as he gives me the money.”

“Of course he’ll give you the money,” Quiggold said. “He’s the Crimson Corsair. He’s not going to swindle you.”

Sallow snorted, fleshy chin wobbling. “I know who he is, Gabdorin. I used to know him before he became a pirate.”

Surprise rendered Quiggold momentarily speechless as he stared at the Besalisk, who was rubbing his fingers together restlessly, gaze darting around the tiny room.

“I traded with him a couple times,” Sallow continued. “He used to rob the bigger ships – merchant vessels carrying goods halfway across the galaxy. Harder to loot, but more to take.” He gave a humourless laugh. “I always went for the smaller ones – independent vessels, you know. They never put up much of a fight. Sometimes I would go with him when he did a number on a company ship, but he never came along with me. Don’t think he liked taking from the ones that couldn’t fight back.” He shifted agitatedly, eyes flicking to the door Ithano had left through. “I remember he – he always wore a cloth tied around his head, like one of them masks they wear on desert planets to keep the dust out their faces. I never got why – didn’t seem like it was too effective at blocking blaster shots – but I never saw his face. I always thought he was just ugly, or scarred, or didn’t have a face at all.”

Quiggold was listening intently, his hand still resting near his blaster. Sidon had never spoken much about his life before he was a pirate, but, Quiggold realised ruefully, he must have had some other profession. Despite that, he couldn’t imagine Ithano working with this callous, brutish creature who enslaved or murdered those he came across and left none in between.

“He disappeared, once,” Sallow was saying. “During a mission. I assumed he’d died, so I –” He looked uncomfortable. “Well, I took his ship and his loot and went back to Hallitron. Never thought I’d see him again, but…” He trailed off, shooting another glance at the door. “He came back.”

Quiggold frowned. “How?”                                                                                                      

Sallow shrugged his broad shoulders. “No idea. All I know is the next time I saw him he had a new outfit and a Kaleesh mask instead of the bit of cloth. They say he arrived at the Castle on Takodana – the one owned by Maz Kanata, that little orange creature – half-dead and carrying a cracked mask he’d ripped off the fella that tried to kill him. Well, Kanata fixed him up and he stayed on Takodana for a while, so they say.” His lips peeled back in a sneer. “Then he came looking for me.”

Quiggold felt himself shaking slightly, with anger or disgust, he couldn’t tell. This vermin had left Ithano to his death and stolen his ship and all his goods into the bargain. “And did he find you?” he managed, trying to keep the rage from his voice.

“Oh, yes,” Sallow replied, his smirk widening. “He found me alright. Let’s just say that I don’t think either of us will be working together again in the future.”

“An accurate presumption,” came a mechanical voice from the doorway. Sallow jerked violently, head whipping around. Ithano was standing there, framed against the dirty light filtering through the entrance, a small box tucked under one arm.

“Corsair,” Sallow said, evidently attempting to regain his composure. “You – you have the money?”

Ithano nodded, striding forwards and dropping the box on the table. Sallow seized it and dragged it towards himself, fumbling with the clasp and flipping open the lid. He scanned the neat stacks of credits appraisingly for a few seconds before raising his head and meeting Ithano’s gaze.

“A thousand credits?”

“The rest will come later,” Quiggold responded, at a glance from the Captain. Sallow stared for another few moments, before his lips split again in a wide grin and he pulled the lid of the box shut with a click. He shoved his chair back and stood up, four arms spread wide in a gesture of supplication. “Please, my friends, follow me.”

Quiggold shot a brief glance at Ithano, and the two of them copied Sallow, pushing their chairs back and following the Besalisk as he disappeared through a curtain that concealed a doorway in the back of the shop. The room inside was dingy, the light grey, the walls hung with cloth that was brown with grime. Sallow had his back to them, fumbling with a padlock on the floor. With a click, the lock opened and he stepped back, digging his fingers into a crack in the boards and heaving up a heavy wooden trapdoor.

“Don’t want any of ‘em getting out,” he said, tapping the two-inch-thick wood with a sharp-nailed finger, his smile broadening.

They descended into the darkness beneath the shop in silence, feeling their way down wooden steps that were warped and cracked with age. Quiggold’s eyes flicked between the boards beneath his feet and Ithano’s back, trying not to make any sound of complaint as an ache of pain shot from his metal leg with every step.

“You keeping up, Gabdorin?” Sallow’s voice called, with just a hint of a sneer. Quiggold saw Sidon’s back tense up in front of him and put a placatory hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly.

The steps opened out into a wide room, illuminated only by the square of light cast on the floor by the open trapdoor. Sallow pulled a lever on the wall and the room was lit up by twin strips of yellow light built into the ceiling which cast a murky glow over the bloodstains on the walls and the trapdoors in the floor. Beside Quiggold, Ithano shifted slightly, hands clenching at his sides.

“She’s new, this one,” Sallow said, his voice satisfied as he lumbered over to the trapdoor furthest from the steps. “Only stopped screaming yesterday.”

Ithano and Quiggold moved closer as Sallow bent down to the trapdoor, fitting the lock with a key from a ring on his belt. He edged his fingers into the gap and pulled, and the trapdoor swung open.

“Real beauty, isn’t she?” Sallow said. “One of the only red-skinned ones of the species. I thought about getting a male and breedin’ ‘em together, make a few credits from it, but you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to get a good, strong male on the market these days. I’ll wake her up for you, shall I?”

The trapdoor opened onto a pit, a good three metres deep, lined with stone and carpeted with straw. There was a Twi’lek lying at the bottom, curled in a ball, the harsh yellow light turning her skin a sickly orange. She lifted her head as Sallow spoke, and Quiggold saw the metal ring encircling her neck and the chain leading up to the top of the pit.

“Get up,” Sallow said, seizing the end of the chain and tugging hard. The Twi’lek’s head jerked sharply and she choked, scrabbling at the floor with bloodied fingers. “I said, get _up_!” Ithano made a sudden movement, but fell still as Sallow wrenched on the chain again. The Twi’lek dragged herself to her feet and lifted her gaze to the opening of the pit, her eyes two white holes in the filthy mess of her face. She spat, once, on the floor, and Sallow gave a great bark of laughter.

“What’d I tell you? She’s a fighter, this one. The noise she made when she came in, kicking and screaming – tried to climb out the pit with her bare hands!”

Ithano was motionless, mask tilted downwards as he looked into the pit. Sallow was grinning again, rubbing his hands together as he turned to the Captain, a thin sheen of sweat on his face.

“So, now that you’ve seen her, you’ll give me the second thousand.”

Ithano made a small noise in his throat. His hand went to his back, and Sallow’s eyes followed it, tongue darting out to lick his lips.

“Thank you, Sallow,” Quiggold said, turning away from the pit to meet the Besalisk’s hungry gaze. “You’ve been very…cooperative.”

Sallow turned back to Ithano just in time to see him level the small blaster between his eyes. His expression contorted for a brief second, eyes widening, mouth slackening, before Ithano pulled the trigger.

Sidon put the gun back onto his belt as Sallow dropped bonelessly at his feet, the sound of the shot echoing in the small room. The Besalisk’s blood had joined that of countless others on the wall behind him, a bright spray several shades lighter than those beneath it.

Quiggold turned back to the hole, dropping with difficulty to one knee to look down. The Twi’lek was pressed against the side of the pit, staring up at Ithano where he stood behind Quiggold with her mouth slightly open.

“Hello,” he said. “My name’s Quiggold. Do you speak Basic?”

She looked away from Ithano to meet his eyes, lips still parted. When she spoke, her voice was cracked and hoarse. “Is he dead?”

Quiggold turned to look at Sidon, who had begun to rifle through the Besalisk’s pockets. “Is he dead, Sidon?”

Ithano nodded without turning around. Quiggold looked back at the Twi’lek. “Yep.”

“Are you sure?”

“Is he definitely dead, Sidon?”

Ithano nodded.

“Yep,” said Quiggold.

The Twi’lek let out a breath, steadying herself against the wall. Quiggold noticed again the metal band around her neck, and saw that the skin beneath it was rubbed raw, slick with blood the same colour as her skin.

“Come on, we’ll get you out,” he said quickly, looking around for a ladder or rope that he could throw down. “Sidon, can you –”

Ithano had already moved to his side and was crouching by the side of the hole. His mask tilted again, calculating.

“Move back,” Quiggold called down to the Twi’lek, just before Ithano slid his legs over the side of the pit and dropped down. The straw cushioned his fall and he landed with a soft _thud_ , bending his knees before straightening up again. Quiggold watched as he turned away from the Twi’lek and crouched, patting the small of his back.

“He – you have to get on his back,” Quiggold said to the Twi’lek, who was looking uncertain. “Loop your arms around his neck. Don’t worry about the mask, it’s made of plasteel.”

The Twi’lek did as she was instructed, hooking her arms around the Captain’s waist and tightening her arms around his neck. Ithano stood up, the Twi’lek clinging onto him, and made a jump for the opening of the pit, gloved fingers catching on the edge. Quiggold seized his hand and pulled, and Ithano and the Twi’lek were hauled out of the hole.

“Are there any other prisoners?” Quiggold asked as Ithano bent his knees slightly to let the Twi’lek slide off his back. “I mean, in the other trapdoors –”

The Twi’lek met his eyes, the chain still dangling from her neck, face scratched and filthy. “If they don’t sell, he stops feeding them.”

Quiggold felt the anger stir in his stomach again as he looked around at the trapdoors. “There must be at least twenty other pits down here.”

The Twi’lek nodded. “I know.”

Quiggold stared at the body of the Besalisk still sprawled on the floor, a puddle of dark blood growing beneath his head. His eyes were open, mouth sagging uselessly, blood trickling sluggishly from the dark hole between his eyes. His gorge rose and he turned away, looking back at the Twi’lek who had followed his gaze and was staring expressionlessly at the corpse.

“We – we need to get that chain off you,” he said, trying to distract himself. “I have a multitool.”

He moved over to the Twi’lek and worked a section of the metal band in between the prongs of the multitool, squeezing tightly. The metal split apart with a shearing sound and Quiggold bent the jagged edges apart, carefully sliding the band and its chain from around her neck. The Twi’lek shook her lekku gently as the ring came away, and touched a hand gingerly to the bloody wound that encircled her throat.

There was a loud _crash_ , and Quiggold and the Twi’lek jumped and spun around. Ithano had rolled Sallow’s corpse into one of the pits and was closing the trapdoor, kicking the keys across the room. He saw them staring and gave an insouciant shrug.

Quiggold frowned at Ithano and turned back to the Twi’lek, who was still watching the Captain with an almost reverential expression on her face. “The source we found you from didn’t have the information, but…do you have a name?”

The Twi’lek tore her gaze from Ithano and looked at Quiggold, who noticed for the first time that she had a long gash running through the corner of one eye and there was a bruise blossoming on her cheekbone. “Reveth. My name’s Reveth.”

“It’s good to meet you, Reveth,” Quiggold said. “That’s Sidon Ithano. We’re pirates. Do you want to join our crew?”

Reveth looked between the First Mate and the Captain, who had locked the trapdoor and was standing just behind Quiggold with his arms folded.

She gave a fierce smile, revealing sharp teeth that were dark with blood and dirt.

“I’d love to.”

**Author's Note:**

> let me know if you liked it!! this is such a niche section of the star wars verse aahh thank you so much for reading! <3


End file.
